Fish-trap.



PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1908. J. R. HECKMAN.

FISH TRAP.

APPLICATION FILED 1113.27, 1908.

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PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1908. J. R. HECKMAN.

FISH TRAP.

APPLIGATION FILED PEB. 27, 1908.

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JAMES R. BECKMAN, OF` KETCHIKAN, DISTRICT OF ALASKA.

:BUSH-TRAP.l

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 8, 1908. v

Application filed February 27, 1908. Serial No. 418,063.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JAMES R. HECKMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ketchikan, in the First Division and Dis- 5 trict of Alaska, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fish-Traps, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to traps, and more particularly to fish traps, and has for its object to provide a fish trap which may be employed 1n deep water, and which will be constructed and arranged to resist the action of currents and tides.`

Another object is to provide a fish tra ofofy such structure as to reduce the likelihoo alarming the ish to a minimum.

A further object is to provide a trap so arranged that the webbing thereof may be easily hauled down into 'position or raised, and in which the web moving elements will be simple.

A further object is to provide a structure including relatively few parts, and in which the various elementswill be arranged to produce a lstron(T and durable' structure, and which, furthrmore, will produce a trap which may be built at a relatively low fi ure.

Another object is,y to provide a trap w ich may bc easily built ony a beach or in the waparent from ythe following description,`and it will be lunderstood that 'changes in the speciiic structure shown and described may be made within the scope of the clain'1s,without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In thedrawlngs forming a'portion oftlns speelfication, and 1n whlch like numerals of Referring now to the drawings, the present f trapcomprises a floating frame consisting of vtwo rearwardly divergent beams 5, having 5 short inwardly extendingbeams 6 secured thereto at their rear-war ends and at rlght ter and which may be easily transported reference indicate similar parts in the several;v

Fig. 2 is a detailed view.

brought out.

angles thereto. Beams 7 similar to the beams 5 are secured between their ends to the inner ends of the short beams 6, extending parallel with the beams 5 and terminating short of the forward ends thereof. The beams 7 are thus forwardly convergent, and lie with their forward ends in spaced relation, to form an entrance 8, as will be later described. As shown, the beams 7y extend rearwardly beyond the beams 6, and have relatively short inwardly extendin beams 9 secured at right angles thereto at t eir rearward ends. At their yrearward ends these ybeams 9 have beams 10 secured at their ends thereto and extendingA inwardly and forwardly in parallel relation to the beams 7, these beams 10 lying with their inner forward ends in spaced relation, as shown;

The several beams are suitably braced by means of members A, disposed thereupon and mortised slightly .thereinto, so that these members lie .above the surface of the water when the tra is afloat. A longitudinally extending lea beam 11 is connected with the just described frame by means of certain of the brace members A, the lead beam extending'between the forward ends of the beams 10, and lying with its forward extremity in the entrance 8, mentioned in the foregoing. As shown, the lead beam extends rearwardly to a considerable distance beyond the frame as usual. .A

The beams 5 lie with their forward ends in spaced relation and tliere'at are connected with a pot and spiller frame. B. The beams 5 at their forward ends which form the entrance to the pot are connected by a brace member C, secured thereupon and thus lying above the ysurface of the water, and this -brace member thus causes no ripple or agitavvtion of the water which would tend to alarm the fish and prevent them from passing through the entrance to the pot, as later As shown, all portions of the frame occupy `a substantially common horizontal plane, thus being arranged to float approximately at the surface of the water.

The several beams just described and the l ypotand spiller frame are provided with depending spaced web rods 12, each provided with an eyebolt 12 at its lower end, and with an eye member 13 of peculiar structure be,

tween its ends.'

Each of the web rods 12 consists of a plurality of pipe sections, as shown. The uppermost sections are removably engaged scribed.

through the beams of the trap frame and have pins 14 removably engaged through their upper ends to hold them in the frame beams. These uppermost sections are indicated at 15, and engaged in thellower end j portion of each of these sections 15, there is a somewhat smaller inter-mediate section 16,

having a lower and yet smaller section 17 engaged within its lower end.' The several sections are secured together, the mutually engaging portions being overlapped to a sufiicient extent to give the requlred strength to The eye members 13 of the several web rods are carried by the intermediate sections A llof the rods and these members are each formed of a metallic rod bent into yoke shape to present a bight Z and spaced legs X. T e bight Z of eachl of these yokes is given'a half turn and loo ed at its center, to present an eye 1,8 lying etween lthe legs X.

In attaching the eye members 13 to the sec- .tions 16 of the web rods, the legs X of the yokes 'are passed throu h openings 19 formed lnthe sections 16 lof t e web rods, and are riveted at their ends to hold them in position. When thus. attached, the eyes 1,8 are directed toward the web rods, `as will be yseen from the drawings, and the 'curved ortions of the bight Z ofthe yokes act a's guides to direct the edge of the net yweb vover the eyes as will be subsequently described.

The net web indicated at 20 is secured at /its upper edge to the various beams of the frame, and includes vertical'wall portions 21, as shown, it being understood that these portions 21 are the parts-of the web which are attached to the beams. At the lower edges of the portions21, there is the usual strengthening rope 22, to which may be attached continuous web-setting ropes which I shall term full haul downs 23. One of these haul downs is provided for each of the webv rods 12, and is engaged through the bottom around a cleat 26 mounted upon the framev beams. This half haul down 'Z5 is secured at one point` to approximately the central portion of the web as shown at I( and may be operated in a manner similar to the just described operation of the haul. downs 23 to bring the upper portion ofthe web taut and hold its central portion to the web rod. As

`described in the foregoing, the arrangement of the eye members 13 which provides the guides formed by the curved portions of the bight Z, prevents the edge'of the net web from engaging the eye and thus having its prog ress im eded.

It w1 lof course be understood that the depending wall portions 21 of the web are carried by the various beams of the frame, shown in the drawings. j

The inclosure formed b the portion of the web carried b the ara lel beams 5 and 7 and 6, forms w at wi be termed the heart 27 of the trap and this heart is provided with a bottom web 27. The portions of the web which are carried by the beams 7, 9 and 10,-

form what is termedl the jigger 28, thisjigger being without a bottom web, Vas shown.

The pot and spillerv are formed by the por-f` tions of the we carried by the frarneB, and

are provided with bottom webs in the usual manner. f f,

The portion of the net web carried by the lead beam 11 forms what is known as the lead, and is indicated at W. It will'thus be seen that fish following the lead are free to enter the `igger through the space between the water, the buoyancy of t' e rigid frame being suflicient to hold it floating at the surface of the water, and with the brace members above the surface of the'water, as brought out in the fore oing.

It wil be seen that irish swimming against the lead W will ,have their progress impeded thereby, and will at on'ce make for deep water. It will of course be understood that the trap is disposed with its forward end towards dee water. v:Passing along' the lead web, the sh will pass through the entrance to the jigger, indicated at D, this entrance being of such widthas vto reduce the likelihood of alarming fish to a minimum. Foland have their under surfaces painted a colorlowing the lead indicated at W, the fish will reach the entrance 8 leading to the heart 27, but this entrance being somewhat smaller, the fish are likely to be frightened away, and it is to prevent the escape of fish thus frightened that the jigger 28 is provided..4

It is a known fact that salmon and similar varieties of fish, for the ca ture of which the present trap is especially esigned, never. re-

trace their courses, sothat upon becoming frightened at the entrance 8 to ythe heart, they would veer away from the lead web and would strike that portion of the web 20 which is connected with the beams 7.y Following this portion of the web, they will reach that portion which is carried by the beams 9, and will be turned rearwardly and then inwardly. They will then strike the portion of the web carried by beams 1() and will be again deflected against the lead W. Their tendency then will beto dodge through the opening and into the heart `27, from which they will passinto the pot indicated at D,`and into the spiller shown at E.

As shown in the IV is of finer mesh than the web 20, so that when salmon are feeding upon herring and other small fish, lthe latter will also be directed into the trap, the salmon following. After the salmon have been caught in the trap, the herring will be free to pass therefrom through the larger mesh of the web so that destruction of small fish is prevented.

As will be observed, .there are no transverse connecting members'at Ithe forward end of the member 7, which lie at the entrance 8 to the heart, which might cast a reflection u on lthe Iwater and thus tend to frighten t e fish. All transverse members are in the nature of the small brace member A, and these are elevated above the surface of the water as mentioned in the foregoing,

to prevent the reflection of light against the surface of the water. The same is true of the brace member C, as before stated and there is thus no element disposed in a position to frighten the fish.

At the inner ends of the beams 10, 7 and 5, web rods are provided of a structure illustrated in Fig. 3. These web rods are indicated at '12*1, and are withoutthe eye member 13.

In 4attaching the free ends of the wall portions 21 of the web at these web rods 12,

vertically-extending members 30 are prodrawings, the guide webl lower portion of the member 30. This portionv of the member is then drawn downwardly into the water, and as the operation progresses the web is lashed to the member until the latter is drawn into the water, and the full length of the web rod at its end is lashed to the member when the latter will have been brought into position to hold the endof the web againstthe web rod 12.

As shown in the drawings, the web rods 12 are removably engaged in the frame beams, they being held in position by the pins 14,` and ,it isthus ossible to remove the web rodsV from the frame beams with ease and speed when it is desired to move the tra from place to lace. By removing the we rods, practical y all resistance to the movement of the trap through the water is removed, as, with 4the weight of the web rods removed the frame ioats ractically upon the surface of the water, an furthermore the removal ofthe web rods makes it possible to tow the frame through shallow water of insufficient depth to permit of the passage of the trap therethrough were the rods left in position.

It will also be seen that the present trap may be built inthe water by attaching the various frame beams and braces together` while they are floating in the water, and that the web rods'may then be thrown into the water, suitable cables being` attached thereto, and may then be drawn intoy position to introduce their'upper ends through the openings in the frame beams, after which they are 4* secured in position by the pins 14.

It'will be understood that while I use the term rope in the specification and in the claims to describe the haul down and similar y portions of the invention, I do not desire to e limited to the use of `\rope in the narrow sense of the term, as I may of course employ l cables or chains or any other suitable'fieXible members forthe purpose.

-; The removable engagement ofv the web rods 12 in the frame beams is effected by the disposal of the up er end portions of the web rods in the vertioal)passages Iformed through the beams,'and formed in the upper surfaces I' ofthe beams there are lateral recesses G which receive the end -portions of thepins 14, thus preventing rotation of the web rods in the beams. U ward movement of the web rods through t e passages I is` prevented y by removable staples H engaged over the reing of a plurality of floatable members occupying'y a substantially common plane, of separate nonbuoyant depending web supporting members carried by the frame.

3. In a fish trap structure, the combination with a buoyant supporting member, of a depending member carried bythe supporting member, a continuous rope movab y engaged with the lower portion of theldepending member, a second rope movably engaged with the depending member above the first named rope, and a net 4web securedto thel tically over the web supporting member, a-

rope slidably connected with the lower end of the web sup orting member, said rope being secured to t e lower portion of the Web, an eye member carried by the web supporting member and extending laterally therefrom between the ends of said web supporting member, a second rope slidably engaged through the eye member, said second` rope being secured to the web above the lower `portion thereof, saidee member including means for guiding the oWer edge ofthe web thereover when the web is moved downwardl 6. i tion with buoyant frame members, of brace 'members superposed on said frame members to lie above the surface'yof aliquid in which.

the frame members maybe floated.

7. Ina fish trap structure, the combination with a frame adapted-to float at the surface of the water, a net web carried by the frame and having portions spaced to form an entrance said frame including members lying at o posite sides of said entrance, .and a member secured to the first named members of the frame at o posite sides of the entrance and adapted to water in which the frame is floated'.

8. In a fish trap structure, the combination with a buoyant frame, of a de vending web rod carried by the frame, a fiexib e member slidably engaged with the lower end of said web rod, amember secured to the flexible member, and arranged to lie fin operative position in substantially parallel relation to the web rod, and a web secured to said secn a fish trap structure, the combina.

e above the surface of thev ond named member, said flexible member being adapted for movement With `res ect to the web rod to bring. the second name member into and out of operative position.` 9.` In a fish trap structure the combination with a buoyant frame, of depending web supporting members removably engaged in the frame. f

10. In a fish trap structure, the combination with a frame, of depending web supporting members carried by the frame, said web supporting members comprising a lurality of sections engaged one within. anot er.

11. Ina fish trap structure the combination with a frame including rearwardly d1- vergent pairs of parallel beams, the inner l beaml of each pair extendingy outwardly beyond thecorresponding outer beam, of connecting beams secured to the beams of` each pair, inwardly extending beams secured to the outermost ends of the inner divergent beams, forwardly convergent beams secured tothe inner ends of said'inwardly extending beams, a lead beam disposed between the forwardly convergent beams and with its yforward -end between the forward' ends of the innerdivergent beams, and depending Webbing connected with the beams.

12. A fish trap comprising a heart including side walls and 'a bottom, said side walls having an entrance therein, a leadarranged to direct fish through the said entrance, and a bottomless `jigger arranged to direct fish veering from the entrance again against lthe lead.

13. In a frame for fish traps, thecombination Iwith buoyant surface beams `disposed in4 spaced relation to form a trap entrance, of a connectmg member-secured to the beams 1n position toextend across the entrance and in' ositionto lie above 4the surface of the water 1n [which the beams are floated, said connect- Y ing member being treated to prevent the reflection of light therefrom against the surface of the water.

v 14.- In la fish trap structure, the combination with a floating frame beam havin a passage formed therethrough and having atera recesses communicating with the passage, o'fa depending web supporting member removably engaged in the passage, and a transverse pinremovably engaged in the Web s up orting member and lying with its ends 1n t e recesses.

`In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES R. HECKMAN.

Witnesses: Y 4

W. E. CHANDLER, Z. M. DooLEY. 

